News Headlines:

Tomar had injuries, says post mortem as row rages over death

26 Dec 2012, 1840 hrs IST, AGENCIES

A controversy raged today over the
cause of death of Constable Subhash Tomar during violent demonstrations last
Sunday with eyewitnesses and a government hospital claiming there were no
injuries on his person while the post mortem report contradicted these
versions.

The Delhi Police late in the evening released excerpts of
report of the post mortem done by a Board of Doctors in the government Ram
Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital, where he died on Tuesday (December
25).

Following contradictory versions, Delhi Police asked its rime
Branch to investigate the case in which murder charges have been
invoked.

"Myocardial infarction (cardiac arrest) and its
complications that could be precipitated by multiple ante-mortem (before death)
injuries to neck and chest produced by blunt force impact," Additional
Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) K C Dwivedi said quoting from the report as
the cause of 47-year-old Tomar's death.

The Delhi Police statement
came on a day when various claims emerged about the cause of Tomar's death with
two eye- witnesses claiming that they did not spot any injuries on his person
when they tried to revive him after he collapsed near India Gate on Sunday
during violent protests against the gangrape of a girl in a moving bus on
December 16.

To add to this, Medical Superintendent of RML Dr T S
Sidhu, said, there were "no major external injury marks except for some cuts and
bruises...In all our records, there are no severe internal injuries recorded but
the post-mortem will tell everything."

Asked whether it was a case
of cardiac arrest, Sidhu said, "I don't know. That is not my comment. He came,
he was in serious shock and we revived him. He came in a state of total
collapse."

A journalism student Yogendra and his friend Paoline, who
have rushed Tomar to the hospital, contradicted police version that the
Constable was beaten up by protesters leading to his death. He fell down on his
own, they said.

Yogendra claimed, "I was at India Gate with a female
friend who was injured. I saw one policeman who was running after protesters and
then suddenly collapsing. We rushed towards him and some policemen were also
there. Suddenly, policemen started running after other
protesters.

"So I rushed to a nearby PCR van. They took him to
hospital. I also went in the same vehicle. I saw him in hospital and his body
didn't have any injuries. He wasn't trampled by a mob, he wasn't assaulted. The
claims of police are false. I am surprised to hear that eight were arrested over
Tomar's death," Yogendra claimed.

Paolin said she saw him falling
down. "We removed his jacket and shoes. I asked whether he can hear me and then
I asked him to breathe...He was sweating profusely and there were no injuries on
his body. If we had not been there, he would have been dead on the spot," she
said.

Tomar's family refuted the claims of an eye-witness, saying he
died after suffering injuries caused in the chaos.

"My father died
because of the chaos during the protests at India Gate. Protesters pushed him,
they trampled upon him. He had internal injuries. The claims that he did not
receive injuries are false," Tomar's son Aditya said.

Tomar's family
claimed that the policeman did not have a history of heart problems. "Tomar was
attacked by protesters. He did not suffer from any heart-related problems,"
Tomar's relative Naveen Chaudhary said.

The post mortem report said
Tomar's third, fourth and fifth ribs on left side had fractures and there was
"mid-calibaculur bleeding" at several places. Police sources saideffusion of
blood was present in tissues and neck muscles and ante-mortem injuries were
caused when the body suffered heavy blows from a blunt object.

"He
had a lot of injuries. His ribs had fractures. These multiple injuries
aggravated his condition and led to cardiac arrest," Dwivedi
said.

Asked whether after the post mortem report, police would
initiate action against doctors at RML, Dwivedi said he has no comments to offer
as investigations were with Crime Branch. "I can't comment on doctors or
eyewitnesses comments," he said.

Police have slapped murder charges
in the case. Earlier, eight persons, including an activist of Arvind
Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were arrested on Monday on charges of attempt
to murder.

Following the claims of the eye-witnesses, AAP demanded
sacking of Commissioner Kumar alleging that police was misleading people by
arresting eight "innocent youth" in connection with the
incident.

Kejriwal said Yogendra's account was opposite of what
police said. "Is police lying?" he asked.

AAP chief Spokesperson
Manish Sisodia alleged police was "politicising" Tomar's death to cover their
mistakes and demanded that Kumar be sacked. "Delhi Police should have dealt with
the matter with sensitivity and honoured the constable's death. But, the police
have politicised the death to cover their own mistakes. We feel that the Delhi
Police are involved in a conspiracy. The police commissioner should be sacked,"
he said.

Meanwhile, the Home Ministry has announced an ex-gratia of
Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of Tomar.